Costa Rica 2000

Saturday, August 5, 2000 - San Jose to Monteverde

On this day we start our 8-day family tour. There is one family
of 4 from Pittsburg, PA, and one family of 6 from St. Louis, MO. and a
single man originally from South Africa, but now living in Slavockia.
Our guide for the 8 days was Elston,
who grew up on the Carribean side of Costa Rica. We all had a buffet
breakfast of cerial, sausage, bacon, fruit, eggs, yogurt and bananas in
the hotel before we took off. It turned out to be a very good combination
of people. We all got along fine, and there were a total of 7 boys
between the ages of 10 and 15.

Our first stop was a coffee plantation. The plants were around
6 feet high.

Our next stop was Poás Volcano. It is 8880 feet in elevation
and an 80% chance of being foggy at Poás. Luckily, it was
clear while we were there. The bright blue pool is 500 degrees celcius,
acidic and sulfuric with steam vents all around. We hiked another
10 minutes to see a lake in a dormant crater. At the Poás
gift shop, we bought 2 slushies and a diet coke. The boys bought
a flute-type blow instrument with 10 different tubes in a circular shape.

Active Poás Volcano; large-footed finch near Poás.

After viewing the volcano, Elston and our driver stopped at a picnic
area near the volcano and prepared a picnic lunch for us. While we
were filling our plates, a large-footed finch and a yellow-thighed finch
helped themselves to the snacks on our table.

Yellow-thighed finch; 2 sleeping boys on a bus.

We drove 4 hours to Monteverde. Monteverde is 4000+ feet high.
The drive was mostly good, but the drive the the mountains was on a gravel
road. Sometimes it felt like driving on a brick road or railroad
tracks. Supper at Monteverded Lodge was onion soup with cheese and
pasta.